China’s return travel volume surges as Spring Festival holiday winds down

As the Spring Festival holiday in China comes to a close, millions of travelers are hitting the roads and rails, with return travel volumes surging and traffic remaining stable.

China’s railway system is expected to carry over 14.5 million passengers on Sunday, the 20th day of the 2025 Spring Festival travel rush, with an additional 1,501 trains added to the schedule to meet the demand, according to the China State Railway Group Co.

The Spring Festival travel rush, known as “Chunyun,” started on Jan 14 this year and will last for 40 days.

The national railway system carried a total of 13.38 million passenger trips on Saturday, and is expecting its first major surge in return passenger traffic around Feb 4, the final day of the Spring Festival holiday.

The inter-regional passenger trips were expected to exceed 300 million, among which the highway traffic accounted for 290 million, with the traffic volume on major highways slightly increasing compared to the figure the day before, according to the traffic management bureau of China’s Ministry of Public Security.

Though the holiday comes to an end, the bureau predicts that the traffic volume on roads around cities and scenic spots will remain high.

The Lajkovac-Valjevo motorway in Serbia, a major infrastructure project completed by China’s Shandong Hi-Speed Group, was officially inaugurated on Saturday.

With its main route now fully completed, the motorway will officially open to traffic on Sunday.

At the inauguration ceremony, Serbian Prime Minister Milos Vucevic, Minister of Public Investments Darko Glisic, and Chinese Ambassador to Serbia Li Ming were in attendance, each delivering a speech to mark the occasion.

“This is a road of hope, a road of promise, a road of solutions and also a road of victory. Valjevo and the entire region will no longer be isolated, but closely connected with other regions and cities of Serbia,” said Prime Minister Vucevic.

“We should thank those who have helped us, enabling us to achieve what we have long dreamed of. Thanks to President Aleksandar Vucic and to our brothers from China. Our friendship is not just words on paper, we practice our ironclad friendship through cooperation,” said Glisic.

Glisic also highlighted the project’s role in the region’s development, stating that it will attract investment and boost local incomes.

Chinese Ambassador Li Ming commended the Chinese construction team for their outstanding work in completing the project on time and to a high standard, despite the challenges they faced. He expressed his confidence that the motorway’s opening will have a positive impact on the local economy, attracting new investment and development along its route.

Spanning 18.3 kilometers, the motorway, with a design speed of 100 kilometers per hour, links the central-western Serbian cities of Valjevo and Lajkovac. It is expected to ease traffic congestion and further enhance Serbia’s transport network.